Maybe you can relate to this – are you ever so busy you don’t feel like you can fit a doctor appointment into your already busy schedule? That yes, your health is important, however, leaving work early or going in late to work is simply going to put you behind. Or maybe you are a busy mom and trying to get someone to watch the kids so you can go to the doctor’s office is more of a challenge than what it’s worth. This is me all the way, but I think I found a solution.
The author received a HealthTap appointment and compensation for this article. All thoughts and opinions expressed are their own.
Recently I was introduced to HealthTap, which is an online resource that you pay to join ($15 a month) and you get to pick a Primary Care Doctor for future visits. When picking out a doctor, you have a plethora of options to choose from, which is great. You can go through their profiles and see their reviews from other patients. You can even keep the same primary care doctor for all visits and develop a relationship with them, just like a traditional family doctor.
Once you have chosen your Primary Care Doctor, you can schedule an appointment for just $39 per visit, which is reasonable for a visit from the comfort of your home and covers a wide range of conditions and concerns such as chronic care, children’s health, mental and behavioral health, wellness, prevention, lifestyle, women’s health, men’s health, and more.
Since I spilled the beans that I avoid the doctor because I feel that I am too busy to go, getting set up with HealthTap was my open door to set up an appointment to get a dark spot on my cheek checked out that I have been avoiding getting looked at for a while. I got on my account and looked up an appointment in the evening after work and when the kids were in bed, yep you heard me correctly… when the kids were in bed. Oh, and I didn’t have to pay anything extra for that super convenient appointment when I could visit with a doctor and have no distractions.
Between setting it up and having my appointment, HealthTap did a great job of sending reminders so I did not forget about my appointment. When my appointment time came, getting on to meet with the doctor just took a click. I got on a few minutes early and waited in a virtual waiting room, then the doctor showed up right on time for the appointment.
 |
I set up the appointment to discuss a dark circle on my right cheek (I was thinking the worst). I met with Dr. Anderson Tsai, and he asked to see a closer picture of the spot, so I was able to take a picture with my phone and upload it. The doctor then explained that he wanted to see my spot closer because he wanted to make sure that it did not have certain indicators of skin issues. I uploaded my picture and he shared that based on the coloration and it not changing size quickly, that there is nothing to be concerned with. He stated that it was simply skin discoloration and there was nothing to worry about. At that point he uploaded an image to give more details about when my spot may be becoming problematic and when to reach out if it looks like one of the images. The doctor wrapped it up by asking if I had any more questions, at which point I did not. He said to reach out if the spot changes and that he would send my visit summary when we are done. Then the video chat ended.
 |
Before HealthTap I had never gone to a doctor’s appointment where I made an appointment that worked for me, was seen right away, and felt educated when I was done. Thanks to HealthTap, all those things occurred and it did not take all my money.
This is an affordable option for seeing a primary care doctor from the comfort of your home if you struggle to get to an in-person doctor because…
- You can’t take time away from work or family
- You have a high deductible health plan
- You don’t have access to a car or have other challenges to going to an appointment
- You live in a community with long waits to see a primary care doctor
- You live in a rural community where the nearest doctor’s office is too far away
It was a great opportunity to check out this platform to meet with a doctor in the comfort of my home for Primary Care. I’m looking forward to using it again and getting over my hesitation of going to the doctor simply because it didn’t fit into my schedule.
